The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Vertical mowing, often termed ‘Verticutting’, is a non-mowing practice carried out periodically on greens and fairways of golf courses to remove thatch, remove stolon and rhizome (i.e., horizontal roots connecting blades of grass) promote an upright growth habit of the grass, and open grooves in the turf canopy to prepare for topdressing. Verticutting can also be performed to remove excessive leaf growth, improve mowing quality and surface conditions, and eliminate poa annua seed heads.
Typically, turf-care vehicles used for verticutting are generally the same reel-type turf-care vehicles used for routine cutting and grooming of greens and fairways. Such vehicles typically include one or more reel head assemblies that each comprises a cylindrical cutting reel having a plurality of grass cutting blades helically disposed about a shaft that is rotationally mounted within a metal frame. As is known in the art, such cylindrical cutting reels are utilized to cut, groom and manicure grass surfaces such as greens and fairways of golf courses. Generally, to perform verticutting, the cutting reel of each head assembly is removed and replaced with a verticutting cylinder that comprises a plurality of verticut disks mounted along an axle that can be rotationally mounted within the respective head assembly frame. Known verticut disks are flat and comprise a flat center plate and a plurality of flat fingers that extend from a circumferential edge of the center plate and lay entirely within the plane of the center plate. After the verticutting cylinder(s) is/are rotational mounted within the head unit frame(s), the cylinder(s) (i.e., the plurality of verticut disks) is/are placed in contact with the surface to be verticut and rotated, whereby the fingers cut vertically into the turf with the intent of cutting into the thatch layer and separating the horizontal grass runners (i.e., stolon and rhizome).
However, such known verticut disks and cylinders are not effective at pulling out thatch, promoting a vertical growth habit, or fulfilling the other functions of verticutting. Moreover, they are often not effective in proficiently separating the horizontal grass runners in just one pass such that operators often must verticut the same surface multiple times to achieve the desired effect, changing the cutting path direction each time. Additionally, sometimes operators need to verticut in a circular path to cut the horizontal grass runners in a direction different from the direction in which grass runners naturally tend to grow. Therefore, verticutting using known verticut disks and cylinders is time intensive takes longer and can cause the operator fatigue.